This list borrows its namesake from an excellent 1999 article in The Wire that put forward 100 albums that had a lasting impact on music and culture even though few ears were tuned. While many of those records have grown in notoriety and acclaim since, we can’t promise to be the whistleblowers for these records’ futures. Nevertheless, we’ve compiled 15 records released deep into the underground we hope will land swaths of listeners in their lifetime. Unburdened by genre or scene, as well as pressure from well-meaning publicists, the following albums were released in between January and March without widespread critical attention, industrial support, or rabid standoms.
Graphic by Zahara Slovenski
Rita’s Pop – Rita P (EP)
Emilie Palmelund is Rita P: sullen and speak-singing, never trying too hard. For members of a certain crowd, Palmelund may be better known for her stint as bar italia’s tour bassist, but over the last year, the multi-disciplinary artist has been putting out moody, alliterative singles as Rita P. Rita’s Pop, the artist’s first solo EP, was released this February under Jane Records, a small London label, to too-little reception. On the thin, muddily enchanting 4 track EP, Palmelund shines through as an artist cognizant of their cultural surroundings while keeping their head above water. Copenhagen-style guitar distortion and mildly blown out vocals take the backseat to a cohesive sound – a rough sort of cohesion that is only capturable during the moment a project is just beginning to take shape. The nascent stages of finding a melodic signature are in pure form in Rita’s Pop; long-developed acts tend to lose the bright-eyed wonder and flexibility that dreamier tracks like “Rita Picks Problems” embody, and those any greener are rarely able to produce the mature simplicity heard on “Rita Poser.” Rita’s Pop is more than another euro-indie release for a cooler-than-you-summer: it’s positively promising. – Bernarda Basualdo
Marathon ‘77 – The Park Street Studio Sessions (LP)
I first heard about this band from a new fanzine from Philadelphia called “titled” by Nico Treviso, and per a few word-of-mouth friend-of-a-friend extended recommendations. Marathon ‘77 are the newest in a long lineage of slacker-rockers and have continued the tradition of shitty-in-a-charming-way demo tapes with this new release. Of their discography, this one sounds the least shitty, and is also their newest. Maybe they are on the path to selling out (also in the slacker rock tradition…) But maybe it’s too soon to call– for now, they seem to be continuing to whatever-rock-and-roll their way down an exciting path to watch. – Shannon McMahon
MACHINA MORI – Various Artist (Compilation)
Conceptualized following the album director failing his driver’s test, MACHINA MORI is a collaborative album featuring songs from various individual Vocaloid producers. Utilizing the robotic voice of Adachi Rei – a manually computer-generated vocal synthesizer meant to mimic a human singer – the album explores the idea of what it means to be human in a world where you are different from the ordinary. The noisy electronic soundscape often into genres such as trap, breakcore, and metal. Despite being put together by dozens of unique musicians and visual artists, the album presents a cohesive story of a girl who is too mechanical to be human, yet too human to be mechanical; a theme rings loud due to the number of queer and neurodivergent artists present on the team, who each bring their own perspective to the narrative. Overall, MACHINA MORI is a landmark representation of the passionate and collaborative spirit of the Vocaloid community, and it has been incredible witnessing this work spring from such a niche yet intertwined community. – Tenn Byrne
bird the kid – School Fair (LP)
This feels less like an album and more like growing up in the backseat: dissociation, guitar fuzz, and a punchy grunge kick to the stomach. Released this year, each track almost feels as if Pavement got stuck in a bad dream about your hometown. Humming with a quiet intensity, the record is morose, loud, and tender, full of lyrics that feel like a diary of private thoughts you weren’t supposed to hear, but can’t stop listening to. – Hanne Brabander
good flying birds – talulah’s tape (LP)
Named after English twee pop act Talulah Gosh (the predecessor to the band Heavenly), talulah’s tape is a hefty cry out into the world of modern power pop. Although only available on cassette (or youtube and bandcamp, if you’re really desperate for digital), the album acts as the perfect documentation of the lofi-retrophilia-revival sweeping across the youth-beat of america. (It is also worth noting that the band has a very insightful neocities page.) – Shannon McMahon
sieve – being made like god
Harsh noise, ambient drones, and choral voices are all characteristics of being made like god’s 36-minute noise project, sieve. The album was released in February earlier this year on Bandcamp under Tacet Recordings, and it found my ears through the mail, being sent in cassette form as a submission for a WNYU radio show called “Caveman Music.” Hailing from Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, producer being made like god (additionally known under the pseudonym “__grmthy”) experiments in high-frequency audio design to conjure up a soundscape of horror and beauty throughout its runtime. The sounds are bone-chilling yet calming, abrasive to the ears but striking to the mind. sieve culminates by sifting out the harsh noise walls for a slightly resonant, atmospheric vocal hymn, a firm change of pace that eerily just feels right in accompanying such disarray. – Beau Bialow
Pointless – Pretty V (LP)
When I asked Pretty V about the project and working with Jadasea, I asked if this project might have shown some progression between the two. “Nah we just made it in a night, same as aimless, it’s all pointless… The album means nothing at all, just trynna make money.” I’m not surprised about this being how Pretty V views this project, it’s non stop drops for him usually. With the release of “Destiny of Illusions” later in April, focus is definitely on that. Use this as a way to get excited for the real thing come the end of April. – Giovanni Sotomayor
moribet – So, Ho Hum (LP)
moribet’s first solo project, hailing from the South Korean folktronica aesthetics akin to the elusive Mid-Air Thief. Throughout the 11-song tracklist, moribet’s swarm of glitchy soundscapes haunts a contrasting world of gentle, poetic, indie-folk songwriting and instrumentals. The command of compiled complex and cathartic electronic sounds, consisting of various beeps, breaks, and buzzes, feels alive, moving around from serene ambient textures to gritty rock rhythms, often to the point of oversaturation. This entire world is tied down by sweet-tempered melodies, which feel grounded, and looking up at this computerized storm. – Luca Pasquini
YouTube | Spotify | Apple Music
Little Chair – Ladybug Cat (LP)
Another un-streamable new act (Bandcamp + tapes only!), Little Chair hails from Durham, North Carolina. Following their fore-mothers Tiger Trap and The Softies (and surely anything else Rose Melberg has touched), Little Chair embrace the sounds of west-coast underground pop and friendship rock across all eight tracks. Although outwardly embracing the aesthetics of juvenility, the four-some write masterful pop songs with intention and precision. – Shannon McMahon
no mercy – username (LP)
username is a soundcloud producer I had recently come across after getting addicted to videos of @dcolevideos on instagram. They post lots of archival lite or dark feet videos. So when I do my soundcloud browsing I had come across username and their project god bless from last year. The recent drop of no mercy just serves as something to dance mindlessly to in my bedroom. Username likes to incorporate different samples and remix them for some footwork music, this project got some Drake on “hour”. I love it a lot, really good to ride an electric Citi bike too. – Giovanni Sotomayor
Flamingo Tower – Monde UFO (LP)
Remaining just below the radar at all times, the Los Angeles duo Monde UFO have steered their course into a path of lo-fi-free-noise-pop that subverts normality from track to track. The band and this album truly feel as if they have been sent from beyond outer space, from a world unfamiliar but still recognizable in its own disorienting way. – Shannon McMahon
Be Somewhere Twice – African American Sound Recordings
There’s an air of defeat across Be Somewhere Twice. Percussions struggle to fall on time, metals jangle with a deflated pace, and melodic samples feel belabored as they reach for the next note. The music doesn’t center on the despair of defeat, rather arming itself with the comfort of defeat. The album, from rapper Cities Aviv’s ambient project, works as a blanket wrapped around a patient perched on an ambulance, knowing the worst is behind them. – Benny Sun
أكثر b/w مور – Burqa Boyz
There’s not much information on the Burqa Boyz to divulge – they could either be Middle Eastern, from Libya like their Bandcamp states, or they could be from the East Coast, which would make their Baltimore club sound a little more sensible. Regardless, the online cult favorites have returned with their first release in eight years, by way of a double-sided single with a combined runtime of a little over ten minutes. Their classic sounds return, laying Middle Eastern musicology and Southern rap ideology on a Baltimore club bedrock. Here’s a kicker: the only purchase options on Bandcamp include a $15 vinyl pre-order (with a digital download included) or a $1000 digital purchase. Sounds like good economics to me. – Benny Sun
Clover – Sleeper’s Bell (LP)
Before I learned anything about music—scratch that—before I learned anything about anything, I’ve been inexplicably pulled to songs like this: soft and still, untrammeled in home-grown young love. Clover is everything unpretentious and wholesome in folk music right now: melancholy and silly arrangements, over fingernail-dirt mundanities scraped from the to-be-destroyed bedroom journal archives.
“Looking for the words to find the way it felt when we were young” poses the cerebral Blaine Teppema, librarian and one-half of the Chicago duo, in pen-and-paper conversation with her younger self. Clover will either painfully remind you of an age before ambition had run you ragged, or worse, inspire you to pick up that old notebook again. – Levi Langley